Network element abstraction within a network management system

ABSTRACT

Preferred embodiments of the invention provide systems and methods to receive a logical command associated with a network management system to be executed on a network element, convert the logical command into a physical command associated with the network element, communicate the physical command to the network element.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

A network may contain a plurality of network elements. Each networkelement may have its own management interface that may utilize one of avariety of protocols to communicate with the management interface. Asingle network management system may not be capable of configuring aplurality of network elements that have disparate management interfacesor utilize a protocol that is not compatible with the network managementsystem.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In order to facilitate a fuller understanding of the exemplaryembodiments of the disclosure, reference is now made to the appendeddrawings. These drawings should not be construed as limiting, but areintended to be exemplary only.

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary implementation of a system according toan embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary implementation of a network managementsystem according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary implementation of a web portal accordingto an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary screen diagram of a web portal accordingto an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary implementation of a web services portalaccording to an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary screen diagram of an operations moduleaccording to an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 7A illustrates an exemplary implementation of a system according toan embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 7B illustrates an exemplary implementation of a system according toan embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 8 illustrates an exemplary method for using a configuration file tosupport a network element.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

A system and process of an exemplary embodiment of the disclosureprovides network abstraction within a network element.

FIG. 1 is an exemplary network system according to an embodiment of thedisclosure. System 100 illustrates an exemplary system for supportingtelecommunication networks, such as packet-switched based networksand/or circuit-switched based networks. As illustrated, one or moreinterfaces 103 a-103 n may be coupled to network management system 102and network management system 102 may be coupled to network 101. Thevarious components of system 100 may be further duplicated, combinedand/or integrated to support various applications and platforms.Additional elements may also be implemented in the system to supportvarious applications. Also, while one configuration is shown in FIG. 1,other configurations of these various units may also be implemented. Forexample, the various components of system 100 may be components withinnetwork 101 and network 101 may include one, or any number of theexemplary types of networks operating as a stand alone network or incooperation with each other.

In various exemplary embodiments, network 101 may comprise one or morepacket-switched based networks and/or circuit-switched based networks.As such, network 101 may include, for example, one or more InternetProtocol (IP) networks, wireless communication networks, and/or accessnetworks including, without limitation, dial-up networks, digitalsubscriber line (DSL) networks, broadband wireless access networks,cable modem networks, integrated services digital networks (ISDN),symmetric high-speed digital subscriber line (SHDSL) networks, Ethernetnetworks, metro Ethernet networks, gigabit Ethernet networks, framerelay networks, asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) networks, synchronousoptical networking (SONET) networks operating as a stand alone networkor in cooperation with each other.

Network 101 may be associated with an entity and may provide networkconnectivity to its users (e.g., customers) For example, network 101 maybe associated with a network access provider such as an Internet serviceprovider (ISP) and or any other network access provider that may providenetwork connectivity to enable users (e.g., customers) of the network totransmit information via network 101; a global network provider such asan Internet backbone provider that may provide Internet backboneconnection facilities around the world; a telephone network providerthat may be part of a public switch telephone network; and/or a wirelesscommunication network provider that may provide wireless broadbandand/or mobile phone services to its users (e.g., customers).

Network 101 may be comprised of one or more network elements 104 a-104n. In various exemplary embodiments, network elements 104 a-104 n mayrepresent, for example, addressable, manageable hardware device(s) andassociated software that may perform a telecommunication servicefunction. Network elements 104 a-104 n may include, without limitation:devices associated with level one of the Open Systems Interconnection(OSI) reference model such as add/drop multiplexers, optical add/dropmultiplexers, and/or like devices; devices associated with level two ofthe Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) reference model such as anasynchronous transfer mode (ATM) switch and/or any other like device;devices associated with level three of the Open Systems Interconnection(OSI) reference model such as routers, switches, and or any other likedevices; and/or any other computer networking device that may transmitdata across a network. In various exemplary embodiments, networkelements 104 a-104 n may also represent, for example, automatedtelephone exchanges, digital switches, and/or other like devicesassociated with the public switch telephone network (PSTN).

The entity or entities associated with network 101 may manage network101 via network management system 102. As illustrated in FIG. 1, networkmanagement system 102 may be coupled to network 101 and interfaces 103a-103 n. In various exemplary embodiments, network management system 102may provide a scalable network management application, for example, tomanage devices (e.g., network elements 104 a-104 n) on network 101.Network management system 102 may also provide a web-based interfaceacross Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) layers for network elements104 a-104 n. Network management system 102 may also be coupled to othersystems 105 and provide seamless integration with other systems 105.Other systems may include, for example, provisioning systems,operational support systems (OSS), and fault, configuration, accounting,performance, and security (FCAPS) systems.

Network management system 102 may support various functions associatedwith the management of network 101. For example, network managementsystem 102 may support activation needs for provisioning requests tonetwork elements 104 a-104 n; auto-discovery, reporting, reconciliation,and restoration needs for provisioning platforms; capabilities similarto those of an enterprise management system; and the ability to view ormake changes to virtual devices without accessing the network elementdirectly as described in greater detail below. In various exemplaryembodiments, network management system 102 may be associated with usersthat may use network management system 102 to manage network 101, forexample, and administrators that may configure and/or manage the networkmanagement system. Users may also refer to automated systems associatedwith the network management and/or users of other systems 105 andinterfaces 103 a-103 n. Also, users may be administrators and whether auser may act as an administrator may be dependent upon privilegesassociated with the user as described in greater detail below.

Interfaces 103 a-103 n may represent any number of interfaces associatedwith supporting network management tasks. In various exemplaryembodiments, interfaces 103 a-103 n may be referred to as northboundinterfaces. As such, interfaces 103 a-103 n may send various logicalrequests to network management system 102, which may then transform thelogical requests into native commands to a network element, for example.In an exemplary embodiment, interfaces 103 a-103 n may be associatedwith provisioning systems, operational support systems (OSS), and fault,configuration, accounting, performance, and security (FCAPS) systems.Accordingly, while FIG. 1 illustrates interfaces 103 a-103 n as beingseparate from other systems 105, other configurations may also beimplemented. For example, interfaces 103 a-103 n may be interfaces toother systems 105.

FIG. 2 illustrates a network management system 102 according to variousembodiments of the disclosure. As shown in FIG. 2, network managementsystem 102 may include web portal 201, security management system 202,workflow management system 203, connections module 204, activationmodule 205, and execution module 206.

FIG. 3 illustrates a web portal 201 according to various embodiments ofthe disclosure. As shown in FIG. 3, web portal 201 may include adminportal 301 and web services portal 302. Admin portal 301 may includesecurity module 303, admin module 304 and reports module 305. Web portal201 may provide a single interface to manage all activities associatedwith a network. For example, web portal 201 may provide a graphical userinterface (GUI) that enables a single access point to all networkelements within a network such that users may execute commands on anetwork element, add, delete, or modify network element configurations,troubleshoot and resolve network problems, and/or backup and restoredeleted configurations. Web portal 201 may also provide a graphical userinterface (GUI) that allows an administrator, for example, to add,delete or modify user profiles of users and/or user groups of thenetwork management system, track all actions performed by users of thenetwork management system, send messages to users of the networkmanagement system, run reports based on information contained within thenetwork management system, and/or create credentials and map users thatmay be permitted to access a network element.

In various exemplary embodiments, web portal 201 may be organized basedon tabs. FIG. 4 depicts an exemplary embodiment of a screen diagram 400which illustrates a web portal based on tabs. Screen diagram 400 mayrepresent a graphical user interface (GUI) as described above withrespect to web portal 201. Screen diagram 400 may include a main page401 that may provide a main entry screen from which all modules of thenetwork management system can be accessed. As shown in FIG. 4, screendiagram 400 may also include security tab 402 a, admin tab 403 a,inventory tab 404 a, reports tab 405 a, services tab 406 a, and linkstab 407 a. Each tab may enable users of the network management system toaccess different information and/or services associated with therespective tab. Also, each tab may be associated with different modulesand/or portals of the network management system. For example, securitytab 402 a may be associated with a security module, admin tab 403 a maybe associated with an admin module, inventory tab 404 a may beassociated with an operations portal, reports tab 405 a may beassociated with a reports module, and services tab 406 a may beassociated with a web services portal.

Screen diagram 400 may also include various links on main page 401 thatmay be associated with the respective tabs. For example, main page 401may include a security link 402 b that may be associated with securitytab 402 a, an admin link 403 b that may be associated with admin tab 403a, an inventory link 404 b that may be associated with inventory tab 404a, a reports link 405 b that may be associated with reports tab 405 a,and a services link 406 b that may be associated with services tab 406a. In an exemplary embodiment, if a user of the network managementsystem wishes to navigate to one of the modules and/or portalsassociated with a tab, the user may activate (e.g., click on) the taband/or the link, for example.

Screen diagram 400 may also include other navigational tools such as asite map button 408 and navigation buttons 409, which may enable a userof the network management system to navigate through the web portal oraccess a help page, for example.

Referring back to FIG. 3, in various exemplary embodiments, admin portal301 may include a security module 303 which may allow an administratorto manage users of a network management system. Users of the networkmanagement system may be assigned privileges within the networkmanagement system by way of the roles, groups, and organizations towhich they are associated.

Roles, for example, may be inherited by a user based on a user's groupor organization. Exemplary roles may include, without limitation, systemadmin, admin, user, manager, and complex services user. Each role mayinclude tab permission levels to determine whether or not a user canmodify or view data. The tab permission levels may be associated withvarious tabs of a web portal as shown an described with respect to FIG.4. For example, if a role has view privileges for a tab associated withthe web portal, then the user may only view the data and not modify thedata associated with the tab. Similarly, if a role has modify privilegesfor a tab, a user may modify the data associated with the tab.

User groups and/or organizations may represent a collection of users ofthe network management system that may have a common purpose within anorganization associated with the network. For example, one user groupmay represent all users who share a similar job function. Also, a usergroup may represent all users who have access to a particular networkelement and/or group of network elements. For example, one user groupmay represent all users who have access to the network elementsassociated with a particular network operation center (NOC). User groupsmay also represent all users within a specific geographic region.

In various exemplary embodiments, an administrator may add and/or deleteusers and/or modify information associated with users. For example,security module 303 may include an “add user” tab that may enable anadministrator to add a user and provide information associated with auser to create a user profile. The “add user” tab may include a “userinformation” tab and a “user privileges” tab which may provide aninterface to enter information about a user and the privileges (e.g.,roles and organizations) associated with the user, respectively.Security module 304 may also include a “modify user” tab that may enablean administrator to modify the information associated with users of thenetwork management system. To modify the information associated with auser the “modify user” tab may enable a search for the respective userprovide fields of information that may be modified. Security module 304may also enable the administrator to delete users.

Security module 303 may also include an “audit trail” tab that mayenable an administrator to track security-related actions on a per-userbasis and/or a “command audit” tab that may enable an administrator totrack all commands on a network element. For example, via an “audittrail” tab, an administrator may identify a user and track which networkelements the user accessed. Similarly, via a “command audit” tab, anadministrator may identify a particular network element and track allcommands and/or requests that that may have been executed or arescheduled to be executed on a network element.

Admin portal 301 may also include an admin module 304 which may enablecommunication between and among users of the network management system.For example, admin module 304 may enable administrators to send bannermessages to users of the network management system. In various exemplaryembodiments, admin module 304 may include a “message center” tab thatmay enable an administrator to send a message to one or more users.Using the “message center” tab, an administrator, for example, mayselect individual users (by selecting a specific user identifier) or agroup of users (by selecting a user group) and enter a message to besent to the selected users. Users may also be able to send messages toother users using, for example, the “message center” tab. In doing so,users may be able to send message to other users based on privilegesassociated with the user sending the message.

Admin portal 301 may also include a reports module 305 which may enablereports to be generated that are related to, for example, the activitiesof users within the network management system. For example, reportsmodule may enable “181 Day Reports” to be generated which may display alist of users who have not accessed the network management system in 181days. In various exemplary embodiments, reports module 306 may enablethe generation of other reports that may provide information about, forexample, which network elements a particular user accessed, whatcommands were executed on a particular network element, and/or the like.

FIG. 5 depicts an exemplary embodiment of a web services portal 302according to various embodiments of the disclosure. As shown in FIG. 5,web services portal 302 may include a user module 501 and an adminmodule 502. User module 501 may include an operations module 503, anactivation module 504, and a network elements module 505. Admin module502 may include a policy module 506, a network elements module 507, anda credentials module 508.

Operations module 503 may enable users of the network management systemto execute commands on a network element and/or add, modify and/ordelete network element configurations. Operations module 503 may alsoprovide secure access to network elements to enable users totroubleshoot and resolve network problems.

Operations module 503 may include an “terminal” tab that may enableusers to connect to a network element and enter commands to be executedon the network element. In an exemplary embodiment of the invention, toaccess the network element, operations module may log on to the networkelement in a manner that may be transparent to the user as described ingreater detail below. Also, operations module 503 may batch all commandsentered during a session and then commit the commands to the networkelement at one time, for example.

FIG. 6 depicts an exemplary embodiment of a screen diagram 600 whichillustrates an exemplary “terminal” tab according to various embodimentsof the disclosure. As shown in FIG. 6, screen diagram 600 may include a“terminal” tab 601 which may be accessed by activating (e.g., clickingon) terminal tab button 610. Screen diagram 600 may also include asecurity tab 602 which may be similar to security tab 402 a as describedabove, an admin tab 603 which may be similar to admin tab 403 a asdescribed above, an inventory tab 604 which may be similar to inventorytab 404 a as described above, a reports tab 605 which may be similar tosecurity tab 405 a as described above, a services tab 606 which may besimilar to security tab 406 a as described above, a links tab 607 whichmay be similar to links tab 407 a as described above, a site map button608, navigation buttons 609, connection status portion 611, commandportion 612, and response portion 613.

Using, information about a network element such as a network elementidentifier, protocol type, Internet protocol (IP) address and/or portnumber, a user may search for and locate a device (e.g., networkelement) that the user desires to access. In an exemplary embodiment, auser may only access network elements that the user has privileges toaccess based on the user's role and/or organization. Similarly, a usermay only execute commands that the user has privileges to execute basedon policies that may be associated with the user and/or usercredentials.

Once a user has identified and/or accessed a network element, a user mayinteract with the network element via “terminal” tab 601. As shown inFIG. 6, connection status portion 611 may display the status of theconnection between the network management system and the networkelement. For example, connection status portion 611 may indicate“Connection has been established with [IP Address] (Device Name) on port[Port]”, where [IP address represents an Internet protocol (IP) addressof the network element, “(Device Name) represents a unique identifier ofthe device, and “[Port] represents the port number. Using commandportion 612, a user may enter commands into command field 614. Forexample, a user may enter transaction language one (TL1), common objectrequest broker architecture (CORBA), command line interface (CLI),and/or other like commands into command field 614. In various exemplaryembodiments, different network elements may support different commandsets. In these embodiments, the network management system may validatethe different types of commands and commit the commands to the networkelement as described in greater detail below. Once the commands areentered, the commands may be displayed in response portion 613, forexample. As noted above, operations module 503 may batch all commandsentered during a session and then commit the commands to the networkelement at one time. Users may also activate (e.g., click on) disconnectbutton 615 to disconnect from a network element. Once disconnected,connection status portion 611 may indicate “Not Connected,” for example.

Referring back to FIG. 5, activation module 504 may enable users to add,modify and/or manage scripts for other systems (e.g., other systems 105)that may interface with the network management system. In variousexemplary embodiments, data sent from other systems may be convertedinto, for example, transaction language one (TL1) commands. The scriptsmay represent a set of commands that an other system may apply to anetwork element.

In various exemplary embodiments, a script may include, withoutlimitation, the following three components: a tree structure, avalidation script, and a configuration script. The tree structure mayrepresent the extensible markup language (XML) command structure. Thevalidation script may include a set of commands that may verify whatalready exists in the network element before performing a configurationscript. For example, where a configuration script is associated with across connect, the validation script may validate whether a crossconnect exists before executing a configuration script to establish thecross connect and utilize the ports. The configuration script may add,modify, and/or delete data. For example, a configuration script maycreate a cross connect. Other configuration scripts may define anInternet protocol (IP) interface, create a subnet, and build a bordergateway protocol (BGP) interface to a neighbor router.

Activation module 504 may include an “activation template” tab that mayenable users to add modify and manage template scripts. Template scriptsmay be used repeatedly to perform a particular task associated with aparticular network element. Activation template scripts may beassociated with a particular network element and/or type of networkelement. Also, users may access templates based on privileges of theuser. Using the “activation template” tab, users having requisiteprivileges may add, modify and/or delete template scripts to be executedby themselves and/or other users.

Activation module 504 may also include an “activation request” tab thatmay enable users to select an activation template and execute the scriptassociated with the selected template on a network element. In variousexemplary embodiments, this “activation request” tab may provide analternate to issuing commands using, for example, the “terminal” tab asdescribed above. Also, the “activation request” tab may enable users toschedule scripts to execute at a future date and time. When executing ascript and/or template script, users may enter, for example, networkelement inputs and/or script input inputs that may be inserted intovariable fields in the script. Users may also be able to preview thescript having the inputs inserted into the variable fields beforeexecution.

Network elements module 505 may enable users to add, delete, and/ormodify network element configurations. Network elements module 505 mayinclude an “add element” tab which may include various fields withinwhich users may enter information about a network element. For example,the “add element” tab may include fields associated with a uniqueidentifier, a host name of the network element, a device type to specifythe model name for the network element, a device version to specify therelease version of the network element, an Internet protocol (IP)address, a port number, a credential, a loop back, and or any otherinformation associated with a network element. To add a network element,users may enter the information into the input fields and activate(e.g., click on) an add button associated with the “add element” tab.

To modify or delete a network element, users may search for the networkelement and once located, modify or delete the network element details,for example. A user may add, modify, and/or delete network elementdetails based on the privileges associated with the user.

As noted above, admin module 502 may include a policy module 506. Invarious exemplary embodiments, a policy may refer to a set of commandsthat determine the commands a particular user and/or group of users mayexecute. Policy module 506 may enable administrators, for example, toadd, delete, and/or modify a policy, and/or apply a policy to a group,role, user, or network element.

Admin module 502 may include a “manage policy” tab that may enable anadministrator to manage the policies within the network managementsystem. To create or modify a policy, an administrator may select adevice from a list of devices displayed within the “manage policy” tab.Once selected, an administrator may view, for example, a list ofcommands that are permitted for that network element.

In various exemplary embodiments, a policy may be identified by analphanumeric identifier. To add a policy, an administrator may locate anetwork element and enter an alphanumeric name into, for example a namefield within the “manage policy” tab to associate the network elementwith the name of the policy. Each policy may have an associated defaultpolicy which may determine how the permissions will work. Exemplarydefault policies may include, without limitation, allow, deny, and/orabstain. Allow may represent that, by default, all commands may beallowed, except, for example, those commands that may be explicitlyflagged by add, modify, delete, and/or query permission flags. Deny mayrepresent that, by default, commands may be denied, except, for example,those commands that may be explicitly flagged by add, modify, delete,and/or query permission flags. Abstain may represent that no behaviormay be defined. In an exemplary embodiment, selecting abstain may resultin an implicit deny of any command.

Within the “manage policy” tab, an administrator may associate add,modify, delete, or query permissions to a command. An administrator mayalso apply a policy to groups, users, roles, or network elements. Doingso may define what commands may be executed by certain group(s),user(s), role(s), and on what network elements.

Admin module 502 may also include a network elements module 507 that mayenable an administrator, for example, to return a network element to astate of a previous provisioning in the system. Returning a networkelement to a state of a previous provisioning may provide disasterrecovery for a network element, for example. Network elements module 507may include a “network element reconcile” tab that may enable anadministrator to locate a network element by searching for the networkelement and select any number of commands from a list of commandsprovided with the “network element reconcile” tab and re-execute theselected commands.

Admin module 502 may also include a credentials module 508 that mayenable an administrator to map users and groups to a network element. Invarious exemplary embodiments, each network may be associated with anetwork element ID and a password. As described in greater detail below,the network management system to connect to the network element in amanner that may be transparent to a user. A user may not be able toaccess a network element until the user is mapped to the networkelement.

A credential may be associated with a credential name, a network elementID, and a password of the network element. Credentials module 508 mayinclude a “credential mapping” tab that may enable an administrator toadd a credential. To add a credential, the administrator may inputinformation into, for example, credential name, network element, andnetwork element password fields within the “credential mapping” tab.Once added, an administrator may associate users, user groups, and/ornetwork element groups to the credential. Once a user is associated witha network element, the user may log on to the network element via theweb portal, for example.

Referring back to FIG. 2, security management system 202 may providegeneric security concepts to network management system 102 and network101. For example, security management system 202 may provide credentialscontrol, key escrow services, firewall rules management, access andcontrols specification, secured auditing and/or encryption/decryptionservices. These exemplary generic security concepts may then be utilizedas a base services offering (i.e., a business delegate), to the networkmanagement system to provide a common mechanism for repetitivesecurity-related events such as login credentials control to networkelements.

In various exemplary embodiments, security management system 202 mayalso provide some or all of the data structures and/or algorithmsassociated with performing the functions of security module 303, policymodule 506, network elements module 507, and/or credentials module 508as described above.

Workflow management system 203 may manage work flow (or work unit flow)of the network management system. As described herein, work flow (orwork unit flow) may represent a collection of work units. Generally,work flow may represent any operation performed by the networkmanagement system. For example, work flow may represent operations forconnecting to a network element, communicating with a network, element,and/or interfacing with other systems. Programmatically, a work unit mayrepresent an object that executes in the work flow and returns a stateinformation to the workflow management system.

As noted above, network elements may represent addressable, manageablehardware device(s) and associated software that may perform atelecommunication service function. Each network element may expose oneor more management interfaces that the network management system may useto communicate with and/or manage the network element. The managementinterfaces may use a variety of protocols, depending on the type ofnetwork element. These protocols may include, without limitation, simplenetwork management protocol (SNMP), transaction language one (TL1),command line interface (CLI), extensible markup language (XML), commonobject request broker architecture (CORBA) and/or hypertext transferprotocol (HTTP).

In various exemplary embodiments, network management system 102 mayprovide a single interface to interact with a network element,regardless of the protocol used by the network element. Workflowmanagement system 203 may define a different work unit type for eachprotocol. For example, workflow management system 203 may define asimple network management protocol (SNMP) work unit type, a transactionlanguage one (TL1) work unit type, a command line interface (CLI) workunit type, extensible markup language (XML) work unit type, a commonobject request broker architecture (CORBA) work unit type, a hypertexttransfer protocol (HTTP) work unit type and so forth.

Workflow management system 203 may manage interactions with numerousnetwork elements at a given time. As noted above, to manage work flow,workflow management system 203 may use the state information returned bythe work unit object. Although work unit objects may be defined for eachprotocol, workflow management system 203 may manage work flow usingstate transitions that are based upon patterns. In various exemplaryembodiments, patterns may represent regular expressions that match dataarriving on an incoming stream. Workflow management system may monitorincoming data streams for patterns that may be represented in threeexemplary ways.

First, a good pattern may provide an indication to workflow managementsystem 203 that the one or more operations specified in a command wereperformed successfully and that workflow management system cantransition successfully. Second, a bad pattern may indicate that thetransition was completed, the prompt was found, but an error messageoccurred during the runtime. Such an indication may mean that thetransition is to enter a failure transition, for example. Moreover, whena bad pattern is identified, the workflow management system 203 may waitfor a prompt from the network element. If an error message is receivedfrom the network element, there may be an unknown amount of time beforethe stream may flush to get caught up so the next pattern does not falsehit on stream data. Third, an error pattern may indicate that a problemis found on the stream and the state of the link with the networkelement may no longer be important. If an error pattern is identified,the workflow management system 203 may enter an error state transitionand allow for recovery.

Using the command line interface as an exemplary protocol, as notedabove, workflow management system 203 may define a command lineinterface (CLI) work unit type. The command line interface (CLI) workunit type may be an object-oriented data structure that may definevarious functions for managing work flow. For example, the command lineinterface (CLI) work unit type may define a main execution function maysend a command to a network element and wait for response patterns to bereceived from the network element. The command line interface (CLI) workunit may also define a command that may be sent to a stream andassociated “get” and “set” functions to get and set the command,respectively. In an exemplary embodiment, the “get function may return astring value that is associated with the command.

The command line interface (CLI) work unit may also define good, badand/or error patterns and associated functions for “adding” good, bad,and/or error patterns. Within the definition of the command lineinterface (CLI) work unit, a good pattern may indicate to the commandline interface (CLI) work unit the pattern(s), when found, that mayforce the work flow into a good transition state. In an exemplaryembodiment, a good pattern may indicate that the prompt was found and noerror was generated by the network element. An error pattern mayindicate to the command line interface (CLI) work unit the pattern(s),when found, that may force the work flow into a bad transition state. Inan exemplary embodiment, an error pattern may indicate that a prompt wasfound at the same time an error pattern was found. For example, thenetwork element may return the prompt with a percentage sign (%) toindicate that an error occurred. In this instance, when a prompt isreturned with an error indication (%), the stream returned may the bescrubbed by workflow management system 203 to determine the errorpattern. Scrubbing the stream in this manner may enable workflowmanagement system 203 to understand the stream and make futuretransitions possible. A bad pattern may indicate that total recoveryshould occur. For example, the state of the stream may contain an errorthat requires connection invalidation, recovery, re-login and/orback-out. A bad pattern may be identified by workflow management system203 by directly examining the stream before the prompt is returned.

Other protocol work unit types may be defined and workflow managementsystem 203 may manage work flow using state transitions that are basedupon patterns associated with the respective work unit types.

Connections module 204 provide and manage connections between networkmanagement system 102 and remote facilities such as, e.g., networkelements and/or other systems. As noted above, network management system102 may connect to various network elements using a number of differentprotocols and ports. Connections module 204 may define a model for whichall connections may adhere to and provide a common mechanism forinterfacing with a connection pool manager, for example. In an exemplaryembodiment, the model and mechanism may be defined as an object-orientedclasses or like data structure.

The common model, as defined in connections module 204 may define one ormore methods for enabling connections to remote facilities. For example,connections module 204 may define a method to create a connection and/orhandle to a remote facility and initiate credentials by executing thelogin workflow. In an exemplary embodiment, the creation of a connectionmay be executed as part of the work flow and managed by workflowmanagement system 203. Connections module 204 may also define a methodto close resources in use by a connection and remove a connection to aremote facility.

In various exemplary embodiments, depending on the protocol associatedwith a connection, connections module 204 may define a method to flushany data from a connection so that operations may start over.

Connections module 204 may also define a method that may validate thestability of a connection and return true if the connection id valid, orfalse otherwise. The implementation of this method may vary based on theprotocol that is associated with a connection. Also, in an exemplaryembodiment, method may provide an indication that a communicationvehicle is valid, but not an indication of a logged in state.

Connections module 204 may also define methods to set the state of theconnection, set and/or return the workflow utilized to keep theconnection alive during idle periods, validate that a connection is in a“logged in” stat and that the connection is properly open, return acache utilized in a connection, override a default cache created duringobject creation, store a connection pool manager, return a connectionpool manager for a session, set a session identification for a currentsession, and/or return a stored session identification for the currentsession. In various exemplary embodiments, the session identificationmay be utilized by a connection pool manager to identify a connection.

As noted above, connections module 204 may provide a common mechanismfor interfacing with a connection pool manager. Accordingly, connectionsmodule 204 may define a session manager to manage a connection pool. Invarious exemplary embodiments, the session manager may be defined as anobject-oriented class and/or data structure. The session manager maydefine a function to “get” a connection. In an exemplary embodiment,given a session parameter, the function to “get” a connection may returna new connection from a pool or as a newly created connection. In suchan embodiment, the session parameters may provide session specific datato generate the connection and/or pull a connection from a pool. Thesession manager may also define a “return” connection function that mayreturn the connection back to a pool so that the connection may bereturned back to a connection pool to be used by another thread that mayrequire access to a remote facility. The session manager may defineanother connection that may “remove” a connection that may be determinedto be totally invalid. In an exemplary embodiment, a connection that is“removed” may be completely closed so that it may not be reused.

Activation module 205 may provide a mechanism to implement an activationinterface as described above with respect to activation module 504.

Execution module 206 may provide an interface that enables users ofnetwork management system to interact with network elements and/or otherremote facilities (e.g., other systems 105). As such execution module206 may enable execution of commands to a network element or otherdevice. To do so, execution module 206 may provide a mechanism toreceive one or more commands to be executed and pass the commands to aninterface associated with the device on which the commands are to beexecuted, get a connection from a connection pool, process the list ofcommands based on the interface associated with the device on which thecommands are to be executed, load the commands into work flow units,insert the connection into the work flow, and/or execute the work flow.In various exemplary embodiments, execution module 206 may executecommands based on a priority associated with the user and/or a priorityassociated with the command. For example, a user may be a high-priorityuser (e.g., an operations support user) and network troubleshootingcommands executed by that user may be given a high priority. A user mayalso be a low-priority user (e.g., a provisioning system user) andprovisioning commands executed by that user may be given a lowerpriority. In various exemplary embodiments, the priority of a user maybe assigned dynamically.

In various exemplary embodiment, network elements may include anaddressable, manageable hardware device and associated software. Eachnetwork element may expose one or more management interfaces the networkmanagement system may interact with to communicate with and/or managethe network element. A network management system may interact with themanagement interfaces of a network element using a variety of protocolsincluding, without limitation, simple network management protocol(SNMP), transaction language one (TL1), command line interface (CLI),extensible markup language (XML), common object request brokerarchitecture (CORBA) and/or hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP).

Because each network element within a network may use a distinctmanagement interface and/or protocol, direct communication to thenetwork element may be very specific to the network element. A networkmanagement system (e.g., network management system 102) may provide asingle interface to some or all network elements (e.g., network elements104 a-104 n) in a network (e.g., network 101), regardless of themanagement interface or protocol associated with the network element. Todo so, the network management may store a configuration file for eachnetwork element and/or network element type within the network. Forexample, the network management system may store a configuration filefor each router, and/drop multiplexer, etc. in the network and/or thenetwork management system may store a single configuration file that maybe used for every Tellabs™ 7100, Ver. 5.2 optical add/drop multiplexer.

A configuration file, which may also be referred to as a grammar fileand/or a conversion file, may enable a network management system toconvert logical commands associated with the network management systeminto physical commands associated with a network element. Theconfiguration file may be uniquely associated with the network elementin that the configuration file may represent a definition of, forexample, the valid commands, syntax, responses to the commands, and/oralarms associated with a network element. The configuration file mayalso enable the network management system to support the network elementwithout requiring modifications to the mechanisms and/or modulesassociated with the network management system.

FIGS. 7A and 7B depict implementations of exemplary embodiments forstoring a configuration file that may be used by a network managementsystem to interact with a network element. As shown in FIGS. 7A and 7B,a system 700 may include a network 701 and a network management system702. Network 701 may include network elements 704 a-704 n. Network 701and network elements 704 a-704 n may operate in a similar manner asdescribed above with respect to network 101 and network 104 a-104 n,respectively. As shown in FIG. 7A, network management system 702 mayinclude a storage module 703. Storage module 703 may store one or moreconfiguration files associated with network elements 704 a-704 n.Accordingly, one or more configuration file(s) 705 may be stored locallywith respect to network management system 702.

As shown in FIG. 7B, storage module 703 may be coupled to networkmanagement system 702 via communications link 706. In such an exemplaryembodiment, configuration file(s) 705 that may be stored in storagemodule 703 may be accessible by network management system viacommunications link 706.

Regardless of whether configuration file(s) 705 are stored locally asshown in FIG. 7A or on a network as shown in FIG. 7B, network managementsystem 702 may support the network element without requiringmodifications to the mechanisms and/or modules associated with thenetwork management system. Accordingly, any changes associated with thenetwork element configuration (e.g., the valid commands, syntax,responses to the commands, and/or alarms associated with a networkelement) may be reflected in a new and/or updated configuration filethat may replace an existing configuration file and enable the networkmanagement system to continue supporting the network element withoutmodification to the network management system itself.

FIG. 8 depicts a flow chart 800 which illustrates an exemplary methodfor using a configuration file to support a network element. In block801, a user that may be attempting to execute a command on a networkelement, for example, may establish a virtual session with the networkelement. In various exemplary embodiments, a virtual session may providethe user with an appearance of a lasting connection between the user andthe network element, for example. To establish a virtual session, theuser may interact with a graphical user interface (e.g., terminal tab601) to select a network element and “connect” to the network element.Although the graphical user interface may provide the user with anappearance of having established a direct connection to network element,the user may actually be connected to a network management system andthe network management system may emulate a connection with the networkelement. The network management system may use various modules of thenetwork management system to establish a virtual session with thenetwork element. For example, network management system may use aworkflow management system (e.g., workflow management system 202), aconnections module (e.g., connections module 204), an activation module(e.g., activation module 205), and/or an execution module (e.g.,execution module 206) to emulate the connection and manage the virtualsession.

In block 802, a logical command may be received by the networkmanagement system. In various exemplary embodiments, the user mayinteract with a terminal interface (e.g., terminal tab 610) to input acommand to be executed on a network element and/or an activationinterface (e.g., activation module 504) to execute a script and/ortemplate script that executes one or more commands on a network element.In various exemplary embodiments, the inputted command and/or thecommands executed by the script may be logical commands associated withthe network management system. As such, the logical commands may not bethe actual physical commands to be executed on the network element.

In block 803, work flow may be defined based on the logical command. Todefine the workflow, a workflow management system (e.g., workflowmanagement system 203) may define a workflow based on the logicalcommand. In various exemplary embodiments, the workflow may include workunits that are based on the configuration file associated with thenetwork element on which the command is being executed. For example, alogical command may be a command to build video service. The workflowmay be defined as work units associated with the physical commands tobuild the video service. The configuration file may enable the networkmanagement system to determine a script associated with building videoservice, use the script to lookup the physical commands for building thevideo service in the configuration file and introduce the physicalcommands into the work flow.

In block 804, the network management system may determine when toexecute the command. In various exemplary embodiments, an executionmodule (e.g., execution module 206) may determine when to execute thecommand based on, for example, a priority associated with the userand/or the command and/or the availability of a connection to thenetwork element.

In block 805, the command may be executed on the network element. Invarious exemplary embodiments, an execution module (e.g., executionmodule 206) may execute the physical command(s) included in the workunits on the network element. To execute the physical command(s) on thenetwork element, the execution module may obtain a direct connection tothe network element from, for example, a connection pool, andcommunicate the physical command(s) to the network element.

In block 806, a response may be received from the network element. Theresponse may be received by the execution module, for example. Theresponse may be communicated by the network element to the connectionmodule over the direct connection between the execution module and thenetwork element. For example, using the example above, for the physicalcommands to build a video service the network element may communicatephysical responses for each command and the configuration file may beused to determine whether the response is proper. If the responses areproper, the network management system may indicate a successfultransition state as a logical response. If one of the responses is notproper, the network management system may indicate a back out transitionstate as the logical response.

In block 807, the execution module may use the configuration file to“convert” the physical response from the network element into a logicalresponse.

In block 808, the logical response may be presented to the user via thegraphical user interface. For example, the response may be presented ina response field (e.g., response portion 613) of the terminal interface(e.g., terminal tab 601).

In various exemplary embodiments, after receiving a logical command, thenetwork management system may determine whether the user has permissionto execute the command on the network element. To do so, the networkmanagement system may implement a policy manager that may beincorporated within a workflow management system (e.g., workflowmanagement system 203) and/or a execution module (e.g., execution module206) and cooperate with the workflow management system and/or executionmodule to ensure that policies of the network management system areenforced before a user connects to a network element and/or commitscommands to the network element.

In the preceding specification, various preferred embodiments have beendescribed with reference to the accompanying drawings. It will, however,be evident that various modifications and changes may be made thereto,and additional embodiments may be implemented, without departing fromthe broader scope of the invention as set forth in the claims thatfollow. The specification and drawings are accordingly to be regarded inan illustrative rather than restrictive sense.

1. A method, comprising: receiving a logical command to be executed on a network element, the logical command being associated with a network management system; converting the logical command into a physical command associated with the network element; determining when to execute the physical command based on availability of one or more network resources and a priority of a human user; receiving, using at least one computer processor, a connection to the network element from a connection pool, the connection pool providing access to a connection for multiple threads; communicating the physical command to the network element; receiving a physical response to the physical command from the network element; converting the physical response into a logical response using a computer processor; presenting the logical response to the human user via a graphical user interface; and emulating a direct connection between the graphical user interface and the network element, wherein the graphical user interface permits the human user to establish a virtual session and to enter one or more commands for execution on the network element using the emulated direct connection, and wherein the graphical user interface provides a single access point to the network element and all other network elements within a corresponding network.
 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the converting the logical command into the physical command comprises using a configuration file associated with the network element to convert the logical command into the physical command.
 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the converting the physical response into the logical response comprises using a configuration file associated with the network element to convert the physical response into the logical response.
 4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: storing a configuration file to be used in converting the logical command into the physical command.
 5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: storing a configuration file to be used in converting the logical command into the physical command and converting the physical response into the logical response.
 6. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: defining a work flow based on the logical command.
 7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the work flow includes one or more work units that are based on a configuration file associated with the network element.
 8. The method according to claim 7, further comprising: executing the work flow to communicate the physical command to the network element.
 9. The method according to claim 8, wherein the executing the work flow includes establishing a direct connection with the network element.
 10. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: presenting a graphical user interface to a user; and receiving an input associated with the logical command through the graphical user interface.
 11. The method according to claim 1, further comprising displaying a connection status to a user.
 12. The method according to claim 1, further comprising determining whether a command may be executed based on privileges associated with a user.
 13. A system, comprising: a network management system to receive a logical command to be executed on a network element and convert the logical command into a physical command associated with the network element, wherein the network management system is configured to convert a physical response into a logical response; an execution module to communicate the physical command to the network element, wherein the execution module is configured to determine when to execute the physical command based on availability of one or more network resources and a priority of a human user; a connections module configured to provide a connection to the network element from a connection pool, the connection pool providing access to a connection for multiple threads; wherein the logical command is associated with the network management system; wherein the execution module is configured to receive a physical response to the physical command from the network element; a graphical user interface to present the logical response to the human user; wherein the graphical user interface emulates a direct connection to the network element permitting the human user to establish a virtual session and to enter one or more commands for execution on the network element using the emulated direct connection between the graphical user interface and the network element, and wherein the graphical user interface provides a single access point to the network element and all other network elements within a corresponding network.
 14. The system according to claim 13, further comprising: a storage module to store a configuration file, the configuration file being used to convert the logical command into the physical command.
 15. The system according to claim 13, further comprising: a storage module to store a configuration file, the configuration file being used to convert the logical command into the physical command and convert the physical response into the logical response.
 16. The system according to claim 13, further comprising: a workflow management system to define a work flow based on the logical command.
 17. The system according to claim 16, wherein the work flow includes one or more work units that are based on a configuration file associated with the network element.
 18. The system according to claim 16, wherein the execution module executes the work flow to communicate the physical command to the network element.
 19. The system according to claim 18, wherein the execution module establishes a direct connection with the network element to execute the work flow.
 20. The system according to claim 13, wherein the network management system comprises computer readable code stored in an electronic storage medium adapted to cause a processor to receive a logical command to be executed on a network element and convert the logical command into a physical command into a physical command associated with the network element.
 21. The system according to claim 19, wherein the execution module comprises computer readable code stored in an electronic storage medium adapted to cause a processor to communicate the physical command to the network element, execute the work flow, and establish a direct connection with the network element.
 22. The system according to claim 13, wherein the execution module prioritizes execution of a physical command.
 23. The system according to claim 13, further comprising a security module.
 24. The system according to claim 23, wherein the security module provides an audit trail.
 25. The system according to claim 23, wherein the security module determines whether a command may be executed based on privileges associated with the user. 